Hoboken Charter School Celebrates 25th Anniversary At Annual Gala

HOBOKEN, NJ — Hoboken Charter School (HCS), one of three public charter schools in Hoboken, is celebrating its 25th anniversary at its annual gala this Friday, March 10.

HCS is a unique K-12 learning community, striving for a just world through its commitment to social justice and service-learning and a curriculum grounded in learner-centered practices and inter-age experiences. Working towards this mission – and students’ personal, civic, academic, and artistic growth – students regularly identify community problems and design, evaluate, and implement solutions, making them contributing members of the school community, the city of Hoboken, and beyond.

Examples of issues HCS students have focused on are: advocating for communities in need, helping individuals who are experiencing homelessness, refugees, and international communities lacking clean water or other crucial supplies.

HCS was first chartered by the NJ Department of Education in 1997 and its charter has been renewed every five years since. Though HCS’ 25-year journey has seen some adversity – operating different grades out of different buildings, and a fire that displaced the K-8 students for thirteen months – HCS has also achieved much success, including the school, students, and staff being recognized with numerous awards and honors and the recent opening of a unified K-12 campus.

Executive Director Deirdra Grode shared that, “In this special 25th year for HCS, we’re proud reflecting on the thousands of students HCS has served – many of whom have gone on to pursue post-secondary studies and careers dedicated to creating a more just world. And we continue to be driven to engage our current and future students in this critically important work.”

Though charter schools are public schools, they do not receive government funding to pay for its facilities like other public schools, making fundraising essential. HCS’ 25th anniversary will be celebrated at its annual gala on March 10th, one of the school’s biggest fundraisers (its Annual Fund is the other) and will include both a live and silent auction which can be accessed online for the first time ever.

If you would like to support the school’s mission and anniversary, you can make a donation to the gala, participate in the online auction, or both. Or you can contribute to the school’s Annual Fund. All donations to the gala or Annual Fund are tax-deductible.

For more information on the Gala or how you can support Hoboken Charter School, visit https://www.hcs-pa.org/home. For more information about the school and its mission, visit www.hobokencs.org.

This press release was produced by HCS. The views expressed here are the author's own.